Dashboarding for Leaders and Managing Data in Shiny

Workshop Goals

By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with:

1. Functional Shiny application templates.
2. An understanding of
   • Shiny reactivity
   • Functions & Modules in Shiny
   • Dashboard design principles
   • Multi-tiered architectures
   • CRUD apps in R and Shiny
3. A network of peers for collaboration.
4. Enhanced skills in R and Shiny.

To Get the Most Out of This Workshop

1. Latest version of R (Version 4.3.1)

   • Download R (CRAN Mirror)

2. Latest version of RStudio (Version 2023.09.0+463)

   • Download RStudio (Official Website)

3. Git experience

   • Basic understanding of Git for managing your codebase.
   • Download Git (Official Website)

4. Basic R Shiny knowledge

5. Knowledge of your organization’s needs

Workshop Agenda Overview

• 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Welcome, Introductions & Setup
  
• 9:10 AM - 10:00 AM: Block 1 - Shiny Reactivity
  
• 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM: Block 2 - Functions & Modules in Shiny
• 11:10 AM - 12:00 PM: Block 3 - Dashboard Design Principles
  
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Lunch
  
• 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM: Block 4 - Calendar Module
• 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM: Block 5 - CRUD apps in R and Shiny
• 3:00 PM - 3:50 PM: Block 6 - Advanced Techniques & Final Q&A
  
• 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Hands-on Exercises & Project Work

Maxine Drake: Instructor Introduction

• Engineer Officer
  • Platoon Leader: North Carolina (and Afghanistan)
    
  • Company Commander: Leesville, LA
• Operations Research Systems Analyst (ORSA)
  • Center for Army Analysis, Fort Belvoir, VA
  • Futures & Concepts Center, Fort Eustis, VA

Maxine Drake: Instructor Introduction

• Education
  • BS Economics & Russian, United States Military Academy
    
  • MS Operations Research, George Mason University
• Personal
  • Married to Nate with 3 kids: Charlotte (9), Tommy (5), and Mikey (3)

Dusty Turner: Assistant Introduction

• Engineer Officer
  • Platoon Leader: Hawaii (Iraq)
    
  • Company Commander: White Sands Missile Range, NM (Afghanistan)
• Assistant Professor / Instructor
  • United States Military Academy, West Point, NY
• Operations Research Systems Analyst (ORSA)
  • Center for Army Analysis, Fort Belvoir, VA

Dusty Turner: Assistant Introduction

• Education
  • BS Operations Research, United States Military Academy
    
  • MS Engineering Management, University of Missouri of Science and Technology
    
  • MS Integrated Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University
    
  • Applied Statistics Minor
    
  • Doctoral Candidate, Baylor University, Statistics (Expected 2025)
• Personal
  • Married to Jill (2010)
    
  • Children: Cal (2013) and Reese (2015)

Quick Introductions

Let’s go around the room for quick introductions:

1. Name
2. Organization
3. Current role
4. Experience level with R and Shiny
5. What you hope to achieve from this workshop

Link to Lesson Materials

Please make sure to download and review the content and lesson materials before the workshop:

Workshop GitHub Repository

SSH:

git clone git@github.com:maxinedrake/R_workshop.git

HTTPS:

https://github.com/maxinedrake/R_workshop.git

New to Git?

Download ZIP from website.

Shiny Reactivity

Now, we’ll open R_Workshop/04_tutorial_reactives/app_reactives.R and work from there.

Functions & Modules in Shiny

Now, we’ll open R_Workshop/05_tutorial_modules/app_modules.R and work from there.

Dashboard Design Principles

Effective dashboard design ensures that the audience can quickly absorb critical information and make informed decisions. Here are the key principles:

1. Understand the Purpose, Audience and Context

Dashboard Design Principles

3. Prioritization of Information

• Ensure that decision-making data is accessible at a glance.
• Use size, position, and color to draw attention to key metrics.

4. Balance Timely Data against Speed of App

• Minimize data operations within app session
• Maximize user’s ability to see timely data
• What does “Timely Data” mean for you projects?

Dashboard Design Principles

5. Consistency

• Consistent formatting, fonts, and color schemes.
• Consistent types of charts for similar types of data to foster familiarity.

6. Accessibility

• Ensure the dashboard is easy to use, even for individuals who may not be highly technical.
• Use color contrast and design elements that are accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments.
• Provide tooltips or brief explanations for more complex metrics.

Dashboard Design Principles

Resources

• “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward Tufte A classic, emphasizing clarity, precision, and efficiency in visualizing data.

• “Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals” by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  Practical tips for using data visualization as a communication tool, with a focus on business.

• “Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring” by Stephen Few
  Guidelines for creating clear and actionable dashboards that allow users to quickly grasp insights.

• 8 Essential Dashboard Design Principles for Effective Data Visualization

Calendars in Shiny

• {timevis}: Allows you to build interactive timelines in Shiny or Quarto. It is based on the ‘vis.js’ Timeline JavaScript library.

CRUD Apps in R and Shiny

Check out R_workshop > app.R

• Use {rhandsontable}, {reactable}, or {DT} to display selectable/editable tables
• Control user submissions through shiny::actionButtons
• Validate user input using functions, such as shiny::req, shiny::validate, shinyfeedback::feedback, and shiny::showNotification
• A CRUD app could have the following key steps:
  1. Read in data
  2. Join and transform data into user table(s), using a function
  3. Make your user table to a reactive object, using reactiveValues
  4. Upon user submission, there are two subprocesses:
  • Transform submission back into original raw table structure, using a function, then write to data
  • Update your reactive user table with submission